Glastonbury 2016: Coldplay set to make history

Coldplay return to Glastonbury this weekend on the crest of a wave after completing a seven-date sold out UK stadium tour.

The band sold 460,000 tickets across two nights at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium, one show at Glasgow’s Hampden Park and four dates at London’s Wembley Stadium, which concluded last night. SJM Concerts, Metropolis Music and DF Concerts promoted the shows.

Beginning in South America in March, the tour visits the US next month before heading to Australia and New Zealand in December.

“Business has been much stronger throughout the globe on this run,” Coldplay’s agent Steve Strange, of X-ray Touring, told Music Week. “They’re very creative people, as you can imagine, and that extends into their vision of what they want out of the show.”

Coldplay’s last major jaunt was the Mylo Xyloto Tour of 2011-12 and Strange believes that playing only a small number of shows worldwide in support of 2014’s Ghost Stories has helped boost demand. “They’re obviously a very strong band with a hell of a legacy at this point,” he said. “Also, they haven’t toured in a long time.

They only did a small number of iconic venue shows on the last run for Ghost Stories. They played two shows at the Royal Albert Hall, which is less than 10,000 tickets.”

The Parlophone-signed band are set to close Glastonbury 2016 on Sunday, which will see them become the first band to headline the Pyramid Stage four times. “They’ve always had a connection with the Glastonbury audience,” said Strange.

“The band have also been friends with the Eavis family for many years and some of them are from the Exeter area. Exeter is obviously very close to the Glastonbury community and I just think that it’s their spiritual home.”

A Rush Of Blood To The Head, released in 2002, remains Coldplay’s biggest selling album in the UK with sales of 2,909,750, according to Official Charts Company data. Sales of 2000 debut Parachutes and 2005’s X&Y also topped 2.5m.

Latest album A Head Full Of Dreams has shifted 748,896 in the territory so far.

“They are on their seventh album yet are still very relevant at this point,” noted Strange, who played down speculation over the band’s future after frontman Chris Martin reportedly hinted the LP could be their last. “We are still planning ahead at this point,” said Strange.

“I can’t go into details on where they’re going to be playing, but we are moving on with our plans for next year. I don’t think they have any plans to stop in the near future.”